The University of Florida is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS)
to award associate, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, engineer, doctoral and professional degrees.

College

Department/School

Business Administration (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) Program Information

The Ph.D. in Business Administration - Finance and Real Estate program prepares students to engage in productive scholarly research and teaching in the broad area of financial and real estate economics. Graduates of this program typically are placed with major universities in the United States, although some students choose to work in research positions at non-academic institutions.

The Ph.D. program has a strong emphasis on scholarly research training. Admissions are based on several criteria including academic performance in the undergraduate and graduate programs, standardized test scores, proficiency in English, and potential for research and teaching. For more specific admission information on our Ph.D. program, please visit our website at http://warrington.ufl.edu/graduate/academics/phd-fre/. Generally, admitted students will also be considered for financial aid.

Finance

The student pursuing a concentration in finance typically specializes in corporate finance, financial markets and institutions, or investments. The Ph.D. curriculum consists of course work of four types: research foundations, the major field, a minor or supporting field, and a breadth requirement.

The research foundation requirements are comprised of courses in microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, mathematical methods and applications to economics, mathematical statistics, and econometrics. The actual courses will depend on the student’s background and proposed thesis research.

The major field in finance consists of at least 16 credit hours in graduate course work in finance including financial theory, corporate finance, and seminars in empirical methods, market micro structure, and special topics. Students may elect to have one “strong” minor (16 credit hours), two “weak” minors (8 credit hours each), or a supporting field which is not declared as a minor. If a supporting field is chosen, at least 16 hours of course work acceptable to the student’s supervisory committee must be taken. The supporting field option is selected when a student wishes to take courses across a number of departments. The department offers a combined B.S./M.S. program. Contact the graduate coordinator for information.

The breadth requirement applies only to students with no prior course work in business and consists of financial and managerial accounting or their equivalents, plus two courses out of the following areas: managerial economics, production operations management, or problems and methods in marketing management.

Real Estate

The research foundations are identical to those listed above for finance. The major field, minor, and supporting field requirements have the same credit stipulation as those outlined above for finance, except that the major work is in real estate.

The breadth requirement, as in all concentrations for the business administration program, applies only to students entering without prior course work in business. It consists of at least three courses from the following list (two or more fields must be represented): managers and legal environment of business, finance, money and capital markets, problems and methods of marketing management, consumer behavior, and financial and managerial accounting.

Other degree requirements are listed in the Graduate Degrees section of this catalog.